For centuries the bow tie has been an important part of the male haberdashery particularly for formal affairs. It also finds a smaller but real part of casual clothing, female apparel and often a part of waiters and other service personnel's garb. There is no doubt that it forms a final attractive garment detail particularly when worn with a wing type collar where it is virtually totally exposed.
One of the banes of wearer's existence is the procedure for adjusting the size and neatly tying the bow tie. This has given acceptance to the pretied bow tie using a hook and multiple button hole type slots to connect the ends of the strap and to make size adjustments. Unfortunately, these adjustment features are totally exposed when the bow tie is worn with a wing collar and even under conventional collar produces an unsightly bulge usually at the side of the wearer's collar.
The pretied bow tie also often presents such a regular appearance that it gives away the fact that it is pretied.
Various attempts have been made to overcome the above mentioned problems of bow ties but none have been accepted and these problems remain unsolved. Also the bow tie when worn by service personnel on a regular or daily basis, the need to clean the bow tie easily becomes important. Metal parts such as the hook can become rusted if the tie is washed or damaged if the tie is pressed. The common practice is seldom or never to clean bow ties.